We use direct actions to interrupt the status quo and bring awareness to key issues and different forms of state violence affecting the root causes of the plight of black and brown people around the world.,

We stand against the many forms of state violence: police killings, mass incarceration, poverty and others. We stand for justice for Tony Robinson and ALL Black lives lost at the hands of the state. We stand for community and self determination. We will not stop until we are free.

YGB raising awareness and building community

Hosted by FUS, Orchard Ridge UCC and Madison-area Urban Ministry.
Members of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB) will provide us with information so that we may understand their purposes and actions, in a historical and community context. This is an opportunity provided by and for members of the faith community, so that we may listen, learn, and then have time for questions.
Free childcare is available by registering with Becky Schigiel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

******************************************************************* For accurate info on events planned by Tony’s family, do not rely on anyone (including schools, city, county, other groups) outside of the Tony Robinson Family or their spokespeople for information on this or future events hosted by the family. ******************************************************************* WHAT’S HIS NAME? HE NEEDS YOU NOW!
At 2:30pm on Tuesday, May 12th, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne will release his determination on whether or not to indict Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny. Following his determination, we will meeting in front of the Social Justice at 1202 Williamson St.
4:00 p.m - Meet in front of the Social Justice Center 4:30 p.m - Press conference with Tony’Terrell’s family 4:45/5:00 p.m. - March from the Social Justice Center up to the Capitol steps.
SEE YOU THERE!
BEFORE YOU MARCH TOMORROW, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS SO THAT YOU MAY PROTECT THEM:
1. Print this “KNOW YOUR RIGHTS CARD” now, share with your friends and read it. Your safety depends on it. http://www.aclu-wi.org/sites/default/files/resources/documents/2012_Madison_KYRPocketGuide.pdf
2. Incase your phone is confiscated, to protect your video, record using one of these applications but don’t wait until you’re in the street to download the application. Do it now.
http://www.ustream.tv/http://bambuser.com/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.aclu.mobile.justice.or
3. Charge your phone tonight and clear your storage so you can record everything tomorrow. It is legal to video the police.
4. If you don’t have an attorney, write this attorney’s number down w/permanent marker on your arm or on a piece of paper in your pocket. Don’t just add it to your phone since that can be confiscated. Vata Edari: 414-779-0074
5. Question: How much distance does one have the right to when in between a crowd and a police barricade?
Answer: the officers decide based on their comfort level and their feelings regarding this matter will be supported in the court of law. If they ask for space and you don’t give it, you will be arrested.

East, West, Middleton, and Sun Prairie High Schools will meet outside of East and West High Schools at 10:30am.

In solidarity with demonstrators across the nation, Madison high schoolers are once again walking out of class and taking their protest against state violence to the streets. This Tuesday, April 14, students from East, West, Middleton, and Sun Prairie High Schools will meet outside of East and West High Schools at 10:30 am.

The Young Gifted and Black Coalition helped to coordinate this action as part of the National Day of Action, a nationwide protest against police murder and mass incarceration taking place in states across the continental U.S. and Hawaii. Madison protesters will focus the protest on the epidemic of police killings of Black people all over the country as well as demand justice for Tony Robinson, an unarmed Black youth killed by Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny on March 6th.

YGB recognizes all police killings as part of a system of state violence that continues to harm the Black community. The impacts of state violence are felt nowhere more so than in Madison, where Black people are arrested at a rate of 11:1 in comparison to their white counterparts. YGB’s months of protests have targeted this system with the “Build the People, Not the Jail” campaign. After the police killing of Tony Robinson, YGB’s efforts have honed in on bringing justice for Tony and his family.

Madison youth have been called to action by the killing of their peer, and Tuesday’s walk-out marks their third walk-out in pursuit of justice. As YGB member Alix Ade Shabazz said, "While some may object to the fact that students will be missing class, others among us celebrate that they are writing history."

UPDATE

Violent Police Arrest Peaceful Protestors

April 14, 2015 – Madison, WI

Between 6:30 and 7:30 pm on Tuesday April 14th, Madison Police officers at the intersection of East Washington and 4th Street arrested more than ten peaceful protestors. Roughly 35 people, mostly youth remained in the intersection after a day-long protest, for which residents shut down East Washington for several hours to demand justice for Tony Robinson and as a part of a national action against police violence and mass incarceration. As the young people continued to sit in the intersection, 30-40 officers approached the group from the west, spanning both sides of East Washington. The officers approached the youth telling them they had 5 minutes to leave before they would be arrested. While the youth deliberated as to whether they would take arrests, the police ambushed the group. Officers arrested three people initially, Jivonte Lee Davis, Mary Jo Walters and another protestor. They subsequently approached Leslie Amsterdam (Peterson), a member of the media, who was recording the arrests. They told her to move, and when she revealed herself as a member of the media, they destroyed her camera and forcibly arrested her. The remaining youth then decided that since they could not be in the street without being arrested, they would march legally in the crosswalks across East Washington during the light changes.

After roughly an hour, they were caught in the median during a light change. Two adults, Adeyemi Balogun and Brandi Grayson attempted to protect the youth from the police. “They grabbed Brandi and dragged her, so I grabbed her,” reported Balogun. “Then they jumped on me. They came up behind me and grabbed my neck. Then another cop grabbed me and they had me wrapped up. They just kept saying ‘stop resisting, stop resisting!’ But I wasn’t doing anything.”

Grayson was violently thrown to the ground and then drug along the ground before she was arrested. Balogun along with approximately six more people, including youth, were arrested at that time. Marnie Schroeder, another arrested person described the scene: “He [CJ Terrell] wasn’t talking, wasn’t doing anything and they slammed him to the ground. They had their knee on his neck and his face in the dirt. I tried to put my hand under his face to protect it, but then they arrested me.”

Community members are outraged but unsurprised by this gross display of state power by MPD. “This is a clear example of the state violence we have been talking about for months,” said Grayson. “They brutalized me, and they arrested our babies who were mourning and protesting against the police violence that led to the murder of their friend, Tony Robinson.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most original and perceptive writers in America. With rich emotional depth and a sonar sense of how pop culture, politics, and history shape discussions of diversity, Coates has been called "the young James Joyce of the hip hop generation." His 2014 cover story for The Atlantic on slavery and race, "The Case for Reparations," is one of the most talked-about pieces of nonfiction in recent memory. His Atlantic blog has been named by TIME as one of the 25 Best in the World. Currently working on his first novel, Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic and author of the critically-hailed memoir The Beautiful Struggle.

YGB needs your voice in order to get an investigation by the United Nations as we elevate the conversation of of racial disparities in Madison and fight for justice for Tony Robinson, the unarmed black teen murdered at the hands of officer Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department

ABOUT US

The Young Gifted and Black Coalition is a circle of young leaders determined to end state violence and raise the voice of communities of color. We are young Black Women, Queer Folks, Straight Folks and Feminist Men who are fighting for Black Liberation. Our focus is on the low income black communities that our core members call home.